Florida nursing home deaths after Irma prompt criminal probe

The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, confirmed that it had a prolonged power failure to the transformer which powered the facility's air conditioning system as a result of Extreme Category 5 Hurricane Irma ."Three died at the nursing home, and three others died after being transported to Memorial Healthcare System facilities, city officials said on September 13, 2017 in Hollywood, Florida. (Photo: mpi122/MediaPunch/IPX)

Three of the victims were found dead at the nursing home and the others died on the way to the hospital or after they arrived there, Hollywood Police Chief Tom Sanchez said at a news conference.

Extremely hot

After getting a call at 4 a.m. Wednesday that someone had died at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, police arrived to find it was extremely hot on the building’s second floor. In addition to fatalities, they found other residents who were gravely ill.

Dr. Randy Katz, the emergency room medical director at a hospital across the street from the nursing home, said they evacuated 115 patients and at least a dozen are being treated now. “Potentially” more people could die, he said. Victims were suffering from respiratory distress, dehydration and other heat-related injuries.

The state prosecutor and the agency that regulates nursing homes are both involved in the investigation, Sanchez said. Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief said government officials had requested that power companies prioritize senior citizen communities before the hurricane hit.

Facility not on critical, top priority list

Robert Gould, a spokesman for NextEra Energy Inc.’s Florida Power & Light, said utility representatives had met with Broward County officials in early March. “We worked with them. They identified which facilities were to be critical, top infrastructure facilities,” Gould said. “This was not one of them, unlike Memorial Regional Medical Hospital across the street, which is in service.”